Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the December 4 Meeting?

Governance, Corporate Services, and Infrastructure, Development and Enterprise are on the agenda for this, the final committee meeting of 2017.

PRESENTATION: Recognition of staff recipients of the Diamond Water Supplier in the 2017 Mercury Tribune Reader’s Choice Awards

PRESENTATION:Recognition of full approval of the City’s Official Plan Amendment – OPA 48

PRESENTATION: Recognition of staff recipient of the Canadian Parking Association Contributing Member Award

COW-GOV-2017.4 CAO Performance Evaluation Process– The long and winding road of establishing a process by which the Chief Administrative Officer for the City sets up yearly goals and is evaluated on the level of their completion, is complete. From here on, the CAO, who is currently Derrick Thomson, will present performance objectives in the first quarter of the year, and then deliver two updates though the year. The Committee will approve the objectives, and work with the CAO to develop an action plan. The General Manager for Human Resources will assist the Mayor and Council on the compensation end if it’s determined that the CAO is entitled to any salary adjustments as per the CAO’s contract or other agreements. That last part will take place at the end of council’s term.

COW-GOV-2017.5 Notices of Motion Review– Earlier this year, it was noticed that a lot of Notices of Motion were coming forward, and that the motives for these particular actions might have been political. A question emerged: is there a policy for Notices of Motion, and if not, should we have one? Obviously there was always a procedural by-law for Notices of Motion, which merely began with members of council giving notice that he or she intended to introduce a motion at a subsequent council meeting. Now, the procedure has been amended to first have the councillor go through the Deputy CAO and relevant Committee-of-the-Whole Service Area Chair to place a motion on the next committee agenda. If the matter doesn’t make the committee agenda, the councillor can then proceed with the Notice of Motion policy as originally intended.

COW-GOV-2017.6 Striking Committee Policy– This policy covers a couple of different areas of business for council, on the one hand it covers the appointment of service area chairs, a role that’s changed vastly since council made the switch to Committee-of-the-Whole, and on the other it covers all other board, committee, and agency appointments that council has to make. Since none of that will be happening from now until after the next election, this is a good time to revisit the striking committee policy in which those people are named. Presently, the process involves a striking committee made up council doing a lot of meeting behind closed doors in camera, but the new process will take place in open council with each candidate being given a chance to speak to their nomination before a vote is cast. Each member of council will vote for one candidate, and if no one person is able to get a majority, then a re-vote will be taken with the candidate with the lowest number of votes being removed. This will continue until one candidate gets a majority, and the vote will be done by a show of hands. Obviously, if there’s only one candidate it will be a more straightforward yes or no vote. This policy will come back with the next update on the status of Committee-of-the-Whole in the second quarter of 2018.

COW-GOV-2017.7 Public Notice Provisions Policy Review and Update – Way back in November 2007, the original Public Notice Provisions Policy was adapted, so a review is timely to make sure it’s still relevant and accurate. The types of notices covered by this policy include the changing of highway names and “municipal restructuring” (meaning the changing of municipal borders). Updates include the option to send notice by email, and that notices shall henceforth by compliant with the Accessibility for Ontarian with Disabilities Act. Any updates to signage will be completed along with the presently in-review Sign Bylaw.

COW-CS-2017.21 2017 Q3 Capital Variance Report – For the third quarter of 2017, the City spent $50.8 million, which is about $7.3 million more than last year, due to continuing work though the late summer months and the rewarding of some pretty important tenders and Requests for Proposal. Additional funding of about $18 million was approved subsequent to the approval of the 2017 capital budget including the It Fibre Data Network, the Phase III approval of the Wilson Street Parkade and street reconstruction, and the LED streetlight project. Finally, Wastewater closed two previously approved projects that were rescheduled for the future, thus returning $16.1 million to their respective funds.

COW-CS-2017.22 Update to the Tax Billing and Collection Policy – Because you demanded (and because there hasn’t been an update to this in six years), the City has initiated some updates on account of changes in legislation and best practices. The changes are mostly administrative including that property owners must request in writing to receive tax bills at the address of their choosing, that owners can receive tax bills through email by filling out an application, and that credit card payments are now accepted through a third party vendor. The biggest change though is that properties in tax arrear, meaning that properties that are behind in their tax payments, can be issued a certificate – that the property will be sold by the City to collect overdue taxes and penalties – after two years instead of three. Notification on these changes were sent out in September to affected property owners.

COW-IDE-2017.40 Sign By-law Variances, Woodlawn Road Multi-Use Pathway – The laying of the multiuse pathway along Woodlawn Road continues, but there’s a snafu along a stretch between Regal Rd and Imperial Rd in that the path is running through places where businesses have their signs erected. The placement of those signs currently meet signage bylaws, but if they have to moved in order to make room for the path, they won’t be, so staff is asking for a variance to accommodate the re-positioning of those signs closer to the buildings. Four properties in total are affected.

COW-IDE-2017.41 Sign By-law Variances, 381 Woolwich Street – The new home for ArtMed is looking to install some new signage, primarily a light-blue awning hanging over the Woolwich St entrance. It’s parameters are a little bit outside what’s allowed by signage bylaw, hence the need for a variance.

COW-IDE-2017.42 Sign By-law Variances, 345 Hanlon Creek Boulevard– Wurth is asking for a bylaw variance for a new sign with an important message (“No trucks beyond this point”). The sign placement will be closer to the main building then typically allowed by the bylaw.

COW-IDE-2017.43 Sign By-Law Variances, 630 Scottsdale Drive– Scottsdale Dental wants to install a new sign on its building that’s slightly closer to the ground.

COW-IDE-2017.44 Sign By-Law Variances, 20-30 Clair Road West– The new Fieldgate plaza, home of the new Longos, needs two six-metre signs to promote itself, but only a sign height of 4.5 metres is allowed, so a variance is being requested.

COW-IDE-2017.45 Clair-Maltby Secondary Plan Conceptual Community Structure – The latest phase in developing a plan for the area south of Clair Rd is complete, and the visioning and guiding principles ready to be established. Among them are balancing natural heritage, specifically the Paris Moraine, with future development; plans for active and passive recreation including parks and trails; the ability to accommodate a full-range of housing types; and, the construction of a multi-modal mobility network. The next part of the plan is starting design meetings with all stakeholders in the first quarter of 2018, with the preferred structure to considered by council in the second quarter.

Schreiner to Host “Largest Political Rally in Guelph History”! === What: Mike for Guelph rally in support of Green Party of Ontario Leader, Mike Schreiner’s, election campaign. This will be the largest political rally in Guelph history. Who: Special guests: David Suzuki, Elizabeth May, Sarah Harmer | Open to the public (1000 attendees expected) | Free to att […]

Horwath Coming for Guelph NDP Candidate Nomination!=== From the Guelph NDP: Provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath will be in Guelph to speak at our nomination meeting on Saturday, April 21st where will elect the candidate who will represent the NDP in Guelph and become our next MPP! The meeting will take place at the Evergreen Seniors Community Centre (683Woo […]

Municipalities, Province, and Businesses Team Up for Innovation! === The City of Guelph, in partnership with the cities of London and Barrie, as well as MaRS Discovery District (MaRS), is embarking on an exciting three-year Municipal Innovation Exchange (MIX) project.The MIX will open new economic opportunities to a range of businesses and help public secto […]